Fossil’s first Wear OS 3 smartwatch is the same old story for Android wearables

More than a year after Google launched Wear OS 3, Fossil has decided to release a smartwatch running it, while offering an upgrade for others.

The Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition smartwatch arrives this month as the company’s first wearable to run the Google x Samsung x Fitbit operating system out of the box.

Despite the delay in Fossil getting its act together, that’s good news, right? Well not really. The new Fossil 6 Wellness edition arrives running the two-year old Snapdragon 4100+ platform, rather than the hot-off-the-production-line Snapdragon W5+.

No big deal though, right? The W5+ only promises *checks notes* 2x higher performance and 50% greater battery life than the 4400+, and a new 4nm process that’s 30% smaller and thinner making it perfect for slimmer smartwatches. Damn!

Alongside the old chip is a pretty familiar spec sheet. The 44mm case houses a 1.28-inch AMOLED display with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. You will get a 3ATM water resistance and a slightly sportier design than the standard edition.

It’s available from October 17 and costs $299 in the United States and we’ve contacted Fossil for the UK price. However, it might be worth holding off until the Mobvoi TicWatch that’ll debut the W5+ processor before splashing out here. Or perhaps the brand new Google Pixel Watch announced last week? or the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, which also runs on Wear OS 3?

Fossil also told Android Central that all of the Gen 6 watches running the 4100+ processor are also in line for the Wear OS 3 update too. They will include the Fossil Gen 6, Skagen Falster Gen 6, Michael Kors Gen 6, and the Razer x Fossil Gen 6.

Are you planning a smartwatch purchase before the end of the year? Which Wear OS 3 watch stands out in 2022? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.